Plymouth South High School to Open with Green Upgrades

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Plymouth South High School’s new design will bring natural light into the facility and provide scenic views from the third floor. The facility is built to meet the needs of 1,005 students.

While the project was originally budgeted at $107 million, the addition of turf fields and lighting will cost an additional $4.1 million. In order to complete the turf fields that will be located on either side of the school’s entrance, the district will need to access contingency funds, some of which have already been used to pay for a new wastewater treatment plant, a football field, track and restroom, according to a report from the Plymouth Wicked Local, a local news publication. Rumford, R.I.-based Agostini Bacon Construction is the project’s general contractor.

The report also said that the state allowed the school district to use the funds since Atlanta-based Ai3, the project’s architect, has maintained a consistent record of minimizing project budgets. School officials told the Plymouth Wicked Local that rising construction costs also contributed to increased budget.

The district will offset the cost of lighting the turf fields by installing solar panels on the school’s roof. The turf fields and its lighting system are two of five options the district considered when looking at projects that would not be reimbursed by taxpayers.

The project broke ground in the summer of 2015 and is scheduled for completion by September 2017. Other features inside the 248,081-square-foot school include a technical studies wing, an academic wing and a photography studio located on the second floor, which overlook the school’s front entrance.

The new facility will be located behind the existing school, which has dealt with structural and capacity issues since it first opened in 1988. Over the summer, furniture will be moved from the current Plymouth South High School, and demolition is slated to begin July 2017. The project was initially approved in 2006.